双语阅读-全球数十核反应堆位于地震带

1、Dozens Of World's Reactors Situated InQuake ZonesAnalysisDozens of nuclear reactors operate in earthquake-prone regions around the world, including at least 14 in high-hazard areas, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.Most of those plants are in just two places: Japan and Taiwan, both islands w

2、ith limited natural resources that have chosen the risks of nuclear calamity over complete dependence on foreign sources of energy.Both are now being forced to re-evaluate that calculation amid Japan's unfolding nuclear crisis. A poll in Taiwan taken Monday-four days after a 9.0 magnitude earthq

3、uake off the coast of Japan triggered massive devastation and deadly tsunamis-showed that 55% of respondents lacked confidence in the island's nuclear facilities. The Wall Street Journal looked at the location of more than 400 nuclear reactors across the world-as well as another 100 that are eit

4、her planned or being built-using data provided by the World Nuclear Association, a London-based industry group. The Journal then used data from the Global Seismic Hazard Program, a 1999 study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Swiss Seismological Service, to determine the earthquake risk at each

5、plant.According to the analysis, 48 of the world's operating nuclear reactors, or 11%, are in areas known to have at least moderateearthquake activity. These include the Fukushima Daiichi reactors at the center of Japan's nuclear crisis. Fourteen, or 3%, are in areas of high activity. Ten of

6、 those are located within a mile of a coastline, making them at risk for both earthquakes and tsunamis.Japan and Taiwan together account for 10 of the 14 high-activity reactors. But the U.S. has two reactors in such areas and Slovenia and Armenia has one each. Armenia has another planned.The nuclear

7、 industry says reactors world-wide are built to withstand the most powerful quakes thought possible at each location, plus usually an added safety factor in case those projections are wrong. The Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan apparently survived last week's powerful earthquake intact, only to

8、fall victim to the aftermath.'There are large margins of safety factored into our plants,' said Tom Kauffman, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a U.S. trade group.Late Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued aninformation notice that represents its first official at

9、tempt to explain the event at Fukushima Daiichi to operators of the 104 commercial reactors licensed in the U.S.The notice also included a recitation of steps American regulators have taken, over the years, to make sure that reactors are prepared for natural disasters or other extraordinary events-a

10、 section intended to reassure the public that U.S. regulators and industry are prepared. Preparation includes the development, the NRC said, for restoringcooling water to reactor vessels and spent fuel pools, both of which have suffered failures in Japan.Of the more than 100 nuclear reactors in the

11、U.S., only the two at Diablo Canyon Power Plant on the central California coast, are in ahigh-activity area. The Humboldt Bay plant on California's northern coast, was shut down in 1976 because of earthquake fears but still holds some spent nuclear fuel on the site.Kory Raftery, a spokesman for

12、Diablo Canyon operator Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said the plant is designed to withstand a 7.5-magnitude quake from the nearby San Andreas fault. Several other less well-known faults run even closer to the plant, including one less than a mile away that was discovered in 2008, but the reactors

13、 have been tested to withstand projected quakes from those as well.But scientists sometimes have underestimated how powerfulquakes can be. The temblor that struck Japan was more than 10 times bigger than the Daiichi plant had been tested to withstand. In 2007, theworld's biggest nuclear plant, J

14、apan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, was damaged after it was hit by a quake far stronger than its designers anticipated.Antinuclear activists in Japan have long warned that the country's reactors are more vulnerable to earthquakes than operators and government regulators acknowledge.'A nuclear di

15、saster which the promoters of nuclear power in Japan said wouldn't happen is in progress,' said the Citizens' NuclearInformation Center, an antinuclear group based in Tokyo, in a statement this week.Nuclear power has also been controversial in Taiwan, where all four of the island's e

16、xisting reactors are built near major fault lines. Two more reactors are under construction near the densely populated cities of Taipei and New Taipei.The Atomic Energy Council, Taiwan's nuclear regulator, said all its plants are built to withstand earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above and tsunami

17、s of 12 to 15 meters. Both the regulator and government-owned nuclear operator Taiwan Power Company have pledged to take quick steps to increase safety margins if necessary.Energy experts say it may be hard for Japan and Taiwan to move away from nuclear power. 'Developing nuclear is a way to bot

18、h diversify and reduce dependence on imported oil gas and coal,' said Jone-LinWang, managing director of global power for the energy consulting firm IHS CERA and a native of Taiwan.To be sure, most countries have tried to locate nuclear plantsoutside of quake zones.'There are not that many p

19、laces where reactors are built on these major fault zones,' said Ben van der Pluijm, a geologist at the University of Michigan. 'Japan is probably the poster child.'全球数十核反应堆位于地震带华尔街日报的一份分析评估报告显示，全球在地震易发区运行的核反应堆有数十个，其中至少14个反应堆位于地震高危区。而这些核电站大多分布在两个地方，即日本和台湾。这两个地方由于自然资源有限，所以选择建设核电站，宁愿冒着核灾难的

20、风险，也不愿完全依赖外国能源供给。随着日本核危机造成的影响不断显现，日本和台湾均被迫重新评估自己的能源选择。台湾上周一(3月14日)的一份民意调查显示，55%的被调查者对台湾核设施缺乏信心。3月11日，日本沿海一带发生9.0级地震，造成了巨大破坏，并引发海啸，人员伤亡惨重。华尔街日报使用英国伦敦行业组织世界核协会(World Nuclear Association)提供的数据，察看了全球400多个投入运营的核反应堆的地理位置以及100个规划完毕或在建的核反应堆位置，然后又使用美国地质调查局(U.S. Geological Survey) 1999年的一份研究以及全球地震灾害项目(Global

21、Seismic Hazard Program)和瑞士地震研究所(Swiss Seismological Service)提供的相关资料，测定每个核电站的地震风险。根据这份分析报告，全球正在运行的核反应堆当中，有48个位于已知至少会发生中等地震活动的区域，占运行中反应堆总数的11%，这其中就包括日本核危机焦点福岛第一核电站反应堆。有14个反应堆位于地震活动水平较高的区域，占3%，其中有10个位于距海岸线不到一英里（1.6公里）的位置，面临地震和海啸双重风险。在位于地震活动水平较高区域的14个反应堆中，日本和台湾两地就占了10个。美国也有两个反应堆位于地震高发区，斯洛文尼亚和亚美尼亚也各有这样一个

22、反应堆。此外，亚美尼亚还有一个规划中的反应堆。核工业界表示，全球各地的反应堆是按照可经受该反应堆所在地区可能发生的最强地震的标准设计建造的，并且通常还会增加安全防范系数，以防这些预测出现失误。福岛第一核电站似乎在9.0级的强震中完好无损，但在地震所引发的海啸当中受到破坏。美国行业协会核能研究所(Nuclear Energy Institute)发言人考夫曼(Tom Kauffman)说，美国核电站在安全系数方面留出了很大余地。上周五，美国核管理委员会(U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission)发布了一则信息公告，这是美国首次试图向本国核反应堆运营商解释福岛第一核电站

23、危机的官方努力。美国有104个已获得相关许可的的商业核反应堆。这则公告还列出了美国核监管机构多年来为确保核反应堆可抵御自然灾害或其它非常事件的影响所采取的各项措施，此举意在安慰美国民众，让他们知道美国监管机构和核工业已经做出了防患于未然的准备。美国核管理委员会说，准备工作包括研究如何向反应堆容器和乏燃料池恢复冷却水的注入等。日本福岛第一核电站的反应堆容器和乏燃料池均在灾害中受损，无法工作。美国100多座核反应堆中，只有加州中部海岸代阿布洛峡谷核电站(Diablo Canyon Power Plant)的两座反应堆处于地震活跃地区。加州北部海岸洪堡湾(Humboldt Bay)核电站已经在1976年由于对地震的担忧而被关闭，但现场仍有部分乏燃料。代阿布洛峡谷核电站运营商太平洋气电公司 (Pacific Gas &Electric Co.)发言人拉夫特里(Kory Raftery)说，按照设计，这座核电站能够